Hurting
by Zivancis
Summary: TIVA. Tony comes home from work to find his daughter screaming and his wife unconscious. What's happened? Drama and romance. Please read and review :)
1. Chapter 1

**Hurting**

**Disclaimer - I Own Nothing**

**A/N - I have no idea where this story is going to go, or how quickly it will be updated, but it has been in my head for a while so thought I would see what response the first chapter would get and take it from there. It will be mainly TIVA but other characters will be included along the way.**

**Chapter One - Helpless**

The pounding was slowly getting worse and worse. She had been stubborn for a while and had refused to take anything for it, but now Ziva had declared it the worse headache she had ever had and she had gratefully swallowed down two painkillers. Well, that was an hour ago, and it had made little difference. To make things worse, her cherished daughter was making things harder by having an extremely fussy day. Anaya was only four months old, but she definitely had a voice of her own. Everything Ziva had tried to settle her had not worked, and she had been left with the reality of leaving her in the cot to cry herself to sleep. This of course had made Ziva feel incredibly guilty, but she was unable to move from the couch. The constant pounding in her head had left her feeling rather nauseous, and Ziva was frightened to move as she knew if she did, she would lose the small amount of breakfast she had forced herself to eat that morning.

Ziva closed her eyes, as Anaya's cries started to lessen, and she began to doze. Her sleep was interrupted by the shrill tone of the telephone ringing. Normally, in these circumstances, Ziva would ignore it, but she knew who the caller would be. Tony DiNozzo. Her husband. Yes, things had moved on pretty quickly in their relationship since the fall out from Harper Dearing. They had spent the four months during their resignation getting closer and closer, and then Ziva had the unexpected job of informing Tony that he was going to be a father. It had nearly broken them apart. Tony had completely freaked out, and Ziva had been extremely upset and angry at the lack of support. But after some guidance from the rest of the team, they had united and had even taken the step of getting married. They had also had to overcome the obstacle of having a relationship on the same team, but McGee had come up with the perfect response. At the point of getting together, they had no longer been a team. Team Gibbs had been through too much to fall apart, and Vance had begrudgingly agreed that both Tony and Ziva would keep their jobs as soon as NCIS was reunited.

Ziva made her way into the kitchen, and had almost made it to the phone, when a blinding sharp pain ran through her head. She screamed out in pain, and closed her eyes in the hope that darkness would solve the problem. She opened them again to find the room spinning. She managed one more step forward before the dizziness overtook her and the last thing Ziva saw was the floor coming towards her face.

* * *

Tony waited a few more rings before frowning and hanging up. He then dialled again but got no response.

"Something wrong Tony?" McGee asked.

"I hope not McNosy. Ziva's not picking up. It's not like her"

"I'm sure she's fine Tony. Anaya is probably keeping her busy"

"Yes, I'm sure she is. Boy that girl is fiesty!"

"Takes after her mother then" McGee laughed, and after a second or two, Tony joined in.

Tony couldn't help but worry. He had spent the next hour trying to get hold of Ziva, both on the home phone and her mobile, but he had gotten no response. He decided he couldn't wait any longer and walked over to Gibbs' desk.

"You want something DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked without even looking up.

"I was wondering if I could leave early. I'm worried about Ziva, she's not answering any of my calls"

"Thought you two promised you wouldn't bring your personal lives into the team"

"I know Boss, but she broke rule 3 - never be unreachable"

"Off you go DiNozzo, and when you find her, give her a headslap from me. And give Anaya a kiss"

"On it Boss, thank-you"

Tony drove home as fast as he could. He wasn't sure why he was so worried, after all, Ziva was the most capable person he knew. But he had that awful gut feeling that he had learnt from Gibbs. He let himself in the apartment, and immediately was greeted with the sound of Anaya screaming. He walked through the living room and straight to the bedroom. He ran over to the cot and picked up his baby girl and cuddled her. He then realised that her nappy had soaked through her clothes.

"Oh baby girl, no wonder you're so upset. I will sort all this out in a minute, but I need to see where your mummy is" Tony's gut was clenching now. He knew Ziva would never leave their daughter in a state like that. He walked back out of the bedroom and called out to Ziva but got no response. Anaya was still crying and Tony was trying to gently shush her and calm her down. He walked back into the living room and sighed when there was still no sign of his wife. He then noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A foot sticking out from behind the island in the kitchen.

"Shit! Ziva!" Tony placed Anaya on the floor in the living room and ran into the kitchen. Ziva was lying face down and was not moving. Tony gently rolled her over and swore again at the bruise on her forehead and the blood trickling from her nose. He was relieved to see she was still breathing. He pulled out his phone and dialled 911. Once off the phone, he sat next to Ziva and gently stroked the top of her head. She started to moan a little bit.

"That's it Ziva, come on baby, please wake up"

Ziva moaned again and tried to open her eyes. The moment she did, she screwed them shut again.

"Ugh, Tony the light, please turn off the light" Ziva muttered.

"Hey, calm down honey, the lights not on baby. Just stay still, we're gonna get you to the hospital" Tony stroked her forehead, and frowned when he realised how hot Ziva was.

Ziva could not stay calm. Her head felt like it was going to explode. She brought her hands up to her head and began to cry out in pain. Tony tried to comfort her, but he couldnt and he felt hopeless. He could hear Anaya crying in the next room which made things worse. The two most important people in his world were hurting, and he couldn't help either one of them.

**Hmmmmm, what's wrong with Ziva? Has Tony found her in time? What do you think will/should happen? Let me know with a tiny little review :)**


	2. Diagnosis

**Hurting**

**Disclaimer - I Own Nothing**

**A/N - Wow! Thanks for all the reviews/follows/favourites - amazing and glad you enjoyed :)**

**Chapter Two - Diagnosis**

It seemed to be an eternity before the ambulance arrived. Ziva had been drifting in and out of consciousness, but whenever she was awake she was crying out in pain. Tony launched himself at the door to let the medical crew in and directed them to the kitchen. One of the men went straight to Ziva, whilst the other talked to Tony.

"Sir, can you tell me what's happened please"

"I'm not sure really. I came home from work to find our daughter screaming in her cot. I couldn't find my wife, Ziva, anywhere and then I found her passed out in the kitchen. I don't know how long she has been there for"

"Ok, has she complained of being unwell at all?"

"No. She seemed alright this morning, but Ziva isn't one to complain. If there had been something wrong, she probably wouldn't have told me. She woke up briefly before you arrived and was screaming about her head hurting. She's going to be alright isn't she?"

"We are going to do everything we can to help your wife Sir"

Tony thanked the man and watched as an oxygen mask was placed over Ziva's face. He ran into the living room and picked up Anaya, who had grown quiet in the commotion.

"Come on baby girl, lets go and get you changed and then we'll go with mummmy and help her get all better"

Tony took Anaya into the bedroom and quickly changed her nappy and clothing. By the time he was finished, the crew had got Ziva onto a stretcher. She was still unconscious and Tony didn't know if that was a good thing or not. He longed to see her beautiful brown eyes again, but not the ones that were screwed up in pain. He didn't know if he would ever forget that scream. Due to having Anaya with him, Tony was unable to go with Ziva in the ambulance and followed in the car instead.

* * *

Ziva woke up again half way to the hospital. At first it was just a groan, but as she opened her eyes, the pain began again and she began to cry out.

"Mrs DiNozzo. My name is Mike. You're on your way to the hospital. Can you tell me what's hurting?"

"My head, feels...like...explode" Ziva managed in between cries.

"Ok, I'm going to shine a light in your eyes, can you open them?"

Ziva attempted to open them but as soon as they hit the light she scrunched them up again. Mike prised them open and shone the light in, which made Ziva cry out in pain.

"Ok, I'm sorry Ziva. Both pupils equal and reactive. Are you able to move your neck at all? Touch your chest with your chin for me"

Ziva attempted to, but failed.

"Ziva, I'm just going to check you all over, see if there's any rashes or anything ok"

Ziva just wanted to sleep so she let him do his job. At first there was nothing, but then on the top of one arm, Mike came across two tiny pinprick purple spots.

"Hey! Pete! How far away are we?" Mike asked his colleague who was driving.

"About 5 minutes. Is there a problem?"

"Non blanching rash, she's making me nervous. Step on it!"

"You got it"

Tony was following directly behind the ambulance and had just about calmed down from the shock of seeing his wife in that state, when the blue flashing lights and sirens came on. Immediately the ambulance sped away and Tony was left to wonder what on earth was going on.

"Hold on tight baby girl, mummy needs us to get there a little bit faster" Tony said to his daughter who was sitting quite happily in her carseat. Tony had managed to call Gibbs quickly on the way and he was going to meet them at the hospital to take Anaya home.

* * *

When Tony arrived at the hospital, Ziva had already been taken into the emergency room. Until she was stable and had been assessed, Tony was asked to wait in the relatives room, and was given some paperwork to fill out. It wasn't long before he felt a rough hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see Gibbs looking at him.

"Hey Boss, thanks for coming. I need someone to watch Anaya. She's had a rough day today, just like her mummy"

"What's going on DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, in his normal gruff tone.

"I got home to find Anaya in her cot screaming and Ziva was unconscious on the kitchen floor. I don't know whether she was knocked out by falling or if she passed out then fell. Either way, I never ever want to witness that again. On the way here, they suddenly turned all the lights and sirens on, but I don't know what's happened to her" Tony had stood up from his chair at this point and was pacing.

"Calm down Tony. Do you want me to ask somebody?"

"No. They are doing their jobs. They will tell me as soon as they can. Waiting is just the hardest bit. It's just not normal to see Ziva like this Boss"

"She'll be fine DiNozzo. I haven't given her permission to be anything else"

"Have you told the others?"

"McGee and Abby know. They will come up here soon and collect Anaya for you"

"I thought that's what you were here for?"

"And who's going to be here for you?"

Tony went silent at that point, and thanked his lucky stars that his NCIS family were so supportive.

* * *

Ziva had had enough of being prodded and poked, but she felt so tired that she couldn't protest. She was starting to feel very irritable and kept moaning out in pain. Why wouldn't anybody give her anything for the pain? She could feels needles pricking her skin. First in one arm and then in the other. They had cut off her clothes and had covered her in some kind of thin material. This had made her shiver. She had felt like she was burning, and now she felt so cold. Voices kept shouting over her, and occasionally they tried to ask her questions, but her head felt so fuzzy and she couldn't get her mouth to work. She decided the better option was to give in to the darkness that was floating over her.

It felt like Tony had been waiting for hours by the time the doctor came. Abby and McGee had already been and had taken Anaya home. Part of Tony didn't want his baby girl to leave him as she was part of Ziva, but he knew the hospital was not the place for a baby to be. Abby had been extremely emotional about the entire situation, and Tony couldn't deal with it and had been grateful for Gibbs being there to do that for him.

The door opened, and a tall, middle aged man walked in. He gestured for Tony and Gibbs to sit down and then sat across from them.

"My name is Dr Turner and I have been looking after Ziva. I believe that you are her husband?"

"Yes, Tony. And this is our Boss, Gibbs"

"Pleased to meet you. Now, I gather that you found your wife unconscious earlier today?"

"Yes, yes, I've been through all of this a million times! Can someone please tell me what's going on with my wife?!"

"Tony, calm down" Gibbs said, placing a firm but supportive hand on Tony's shoulder.

"Mr DiNozzo. I know it must be frustrating but in order to get our diagnosis correct, we have to ensure we have all the correct information. We have run some tests on Ziva and it appears at the moment that she is suffering from some kind of infection. Her blood markers for infection are all raised, and what concerns us at the moment, is her severe headache and confusion. Now, this could all be related to the fall she had, and she has clear signs of concussion, but we have done a CT scan and there are no signs of any head trauma. The one infection that we are concerned about is meningitis. Ziva has got classic signs of this, and has the beginnings of the rash that you see in this case. We have therefore covered her with the correct antibiotic, but we need to perform another test to confirm this. Are you understanding so far?"

"Meningitis? Is that not something that children get?" Tony asked, confused.

"It is something that anybody can get at any time, but perhaps as children are more vulnerable, you tend to associate it with them. Now, our next step is to move Ziva to our high dependency unit. We believe that we have caught the infection in time, at the early stages, but she will need close monitoring for the next few days. We also need to perform a lumbar puncture, which takes a small sample of spinal fluid for testing, and this will confirm our diagnosis. We will perhaps do this either later today or tomorrow, depending on how stable Ziva is"

"Will she be ok? She will recover from this won't she?"

"I anticipate a full recovery from this yes, but that is not to say there aren't sometimes complications along the way. We will have to take this day by day and unfortunately in your wife's case, it has been made more complicated by her concussion. She has also broken her nose in the fall. As i said, we will be keeping a very close eye on her over the next day or so"

"When can we see her?" Gibbs asked.

"We are just moving her now, and then one of the nurses will come and get you and take you to her. We also need to arrange prophylactic antibiotics for anyone who has had close contact with Ziva in the last couple of days. We'll arrange that once we have done the lumbar puncture. Any questions?"

"Our daughter, she's only 4 months old, she's not going to get it is she?" Tony asked, worried.

"As I said, we will sort out antibiotics for you and your daughter, but the risk is extremely small"

Tony and Gibbs thanked the doctor and waited until they could see Ziva. It was not too long before they were taken up to the HDU. Only Tony was allowed in, so Gibbs waited outside. Tony walked into the unit which was made up of 4 beds. Ziva was by the window and Tony made his way to her side. He sat down next to her and took hold of her hand. She looked peaceful, but Tony winced at the large bump on her head and the beginnings of two black eyes.

"Hey baby. I'm here now and you're going to be fine. I promise" Tony whispered to her.

"She's been quite reluctant to wake up so far, but perhaps now you're here, she will respond a bit better" One of the nurses said to Tony with a smile.

Tony looked around at the machinary that was attached to Ziva. Heart monitors, blood pressure monitors and numerous fluids running into the cannulas piercing Ziva's veins. Tony wanted to pinch himself and wake himself up from this nightmare.

"You hear that baby, you have to wake up. I want both of my beautiful girls back by my side again"

**Ok, so this chapter didn't quite go as I planned it, but I hope you enjoyed it. So we have an answer to what's wrong with Ziva, but will she recover ok, and how will Tony cope being a single parent for a while?! Please leave a little comment on the way out :) Thanks x**


	3. Helpless

**Hurting**

**Disclaimer - I Own Nothing**

**A/N - I know it has been a very long time since the last update, and I don't know how long it will be till the next, but it has been very hard finding the desire to write knowing my favourite character was leaving the show. I havent seen Ziva's last episode, as being in the UK we won't get it for another year, so in my head she is still there. Cote de Pablo is fantastic, I will miss her so much, but I wish her the best in the future. And from what I have read about the last episode, we saw Ziva's past and present, but we haven't seen her future yet. And the door was left firmly open, and I truly believe that it is not the last time we will ever see Ziva :) I hope people don't stop writing fanfics about Ziva, I think there are plenty of stories left to tell. Let us keep her alive even if it is in fanfic.**

**Chapter Three - Helpless**

Tony had never felt so sick in all his life. It had been an hour since the doctors had performed the lumbar puncture on Ziva, and the sight of the needle piercing into her back was still imprinted in his mind. Ziva had not tolerated the procedure very well, and it made Tony feel more helpless. The doctors had had to manouvre Ziva onto her side and into a fetal position in order to take the sample of cerebral fluid from her spine. Ziva had been very resistant to move, and had cried out in pain the entire time. Tony had been given the option to wait outside, and he had been very close to leaving, but the thought of Ziva moaning and crying his name without him being there to comfort her was too much to bear. So he had stayed by her bedside, although not able to touch her, but he had talked to her the entire time. Thankfully, it was achieved first time, and Ziva was soon settled back into a comfortable position.

Tony sat next to her and held her hot hand. Her fever had continued to spike, and Tony was warned it would be a few days before Ziva was anywhere near her normal self. He was not used to her being this helpless. Whenever she had been unwell before, she had either hidden it, or had soldiered on as normal. It was not Ziva's job to be weak, she had not been trained to depend on people. Tony felt the bile shift in his stomach and knew he was going to be sick. He ran out of the room, just as Gibbs was entering, and rushed to the nearest toilet. Tony barely made it into a cubicle before emptying the contents of his stomach. A few minutes of dry heaving followed before Tony got up on shaky legs and went to the sink to wash his hands. He looked down at the water swirling around the plug hole, and then realised that drops of water were falling into the sink. It was only then, that he realised that he was crying. He began to sob, the reality of the situation finally hitting him. He felt a hand on his shoulder and knew instantly that it would be Gibbs.

"Hey, DiNozzo. I'm not going to ask if you're ok cos I know you're not. But you're doing a good job"

"What, sitting in the bathroom crying whilst my wife fights for her life?" Tony scoffed.

"It shows how much you love her Tony. You two are more in sync than I ever realised"

"What do you mean?"

"You ran out to be sick, and then immediately Ziva woke up and vomited everywhere"

"What?! I need to be with her!" Tony shouted, concerned. Gibbs held him back from leaving.

"She's ok DiNozzo, nurses are just clearing her up. She's going to be ok" Gibbs pulled Tony into an embrace, and held him as the man sobbed into his shoulder.

Tony had spent the rest of the evening sitting next to Ziva's bedside. She had been sick several times, and had continued to cry in pain, but the nurses kept reassuring Tony that she would soon be much better. The doctor had been round and confirmed that Ziva did indeed have a strain of meningitis, and Tony had been given prophylactic antibiotics for him and Anaya to take. Tony didn't want to leave Ziva, but he ached to see his baby girl, and he knew that she would be very unsettled away from Ziva. He gave his wife a lingering kiss on the lips, and instructed the nurses to call him if anything happened. They promised that Ziva would be very well looked after.

Tony reached Abby's apartment thirty minutes later and practically ran to the door. His heart sank as he could hear Anaya screaming, and as soon as McGee opened the door, he grabbed the baby out of Abby's arms and hugged her close to him. She continued to cry for a few minutes, but the cries soon turned into little hiccups, and then stopped altogether. It wasn't long before she was asleep in his arms.

"How long was she crying for? And be honest" Tony asked, as he sat down on the sofa with Anaya.

"Pretty much the whole time. She took her bottle an hour ago and we thought she would sleep, but she's a fiesty one!" Abby replied, feeling guilty that Tony had to come home to his baby so unhappy.

"She's never been away from Ziva for so long. She misses her, we both do" Tony replied sadly.

"How is Ziva Tony?" McGee asked.

"Not good. She keeps being sick and she's just so unresponsive. Whenever she is awake, she just cries. The doctors confirmed that it is meningitis. They seem confident that she will make a full recovery, it just will take time"

"She will be ok Tony. She has to be" Abby replied.

"Thank-you for looking after Anaya today guys. I'm gonna get her home to bed now though. Will you be able to take her tomorrow?"

"Of course we can. We'll come to you and look after her at yours. She might feel better in her own home"

"Thanks. Night"

It was another hour until Tony had finally crawled into bed. He had spent twenty minutes settling Anaya down as she had woken up as soon as they had got home. He had then phoned the hospital to check on Ziva, no change there. Then he had run a quick bath and almost fell asleep. He wasn't sure he was going to sleep well, but tomorrow was going to be another long day.

Ziva was drifting in and out of the darkness. In the complete dark she was peaceful, there was no pain there and no one disturbed her. But then every once in a while, a strange voice would shout at her to wake up, she felt her body being prodded, and a burning light would be shone in her eyes. This light burnt inside her head and made her cry. Why wouldn't anyone just leave her alone? Perhaps if she woke up for long enough, she could tell them to go away and then she could stay in the darkness forever. She began to climb towards the light, and the pain began to hit her again. She battled through it and opened her eyes. She was hit by the sounds of a piercing alarm, and the force of the light made her feel sick. She knew she had to get away from the noise, and she began to move off the bed. The next thing she knew was her name being called, and the sound of her head cracking against the hospital floor as her body could not hold up her weight. She smiled as the darkness consumed her once again.

Tony was in a restless sleep when a noise began to stir him from his slumber. He opened his eyes and saw his phone flashing. He grabbed it and answered, fear clenching at his heart.

"Hello, Mr DiNozzo? Dr Turner here from Bethesda. Im afraid it's your wife..."

**Ok, I do love a cliffhanger lol. What did you think? Comments will help me write faster ;)**


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